These John Coleman/Accrington Stanley comparisons

I've seen various people on twitter using the example of John Coleman as Accrington Stanley manager as an example of what can be achieved if you give a manager time. It's a ridiculous comparison and here's why...

So, in his first 7 seasons as ASFC manager he took over a relegated semi-professional club & took them to 3 promotions and into the Football League only 2 years after overseeing the club turn professional. In all 7 of those seasons he delivered more league wins than defeats and even in the non-promotion seasons the 2nd season saw the club achieved better results than the 1st season at that level. He managed exactly 300 league games in those 7 seasons and won 155 matches (51.7%) and lost only 76 (25.3%).

His record of season after season improvement continued in the Football League...

2006/2007 - League Two 20th.2007/2008 - League Two 17th.2008/2009 - League Two 16th.2009/2010 - League Two 15th.2010/2011 - League Two 5th.24th January 2012 - Appointed Rochdale manager with ASFC 10th in League Two just 2 points off the play-offs.

His League Two record from 251 matches was 88 wins (35.1%), 61 draws (24.3%) & 102 defeats (40.6%). Overall his win percentage from 551 league matches was 44.1%.

And after he returned to Accrington Stanley...

18th September 2014 - Appointed Accrington Stanley manager with them in 20th. 2014/2015 - League Two 17th.2015/2016 - League Two 4th.2016/2017 - League Two 13th.2017/2018 - League Two Champions.

In just under 4 seasons in League Two in 176 league matches he delivered 83 wins (47.2%), 43 draws (24.4%) & just 50 defeats (28.4%).

And Michael Jolley will drop to a 50% loss percentage for the season if he loses tomorrow or loses 2 of our last 3 league matches,

Conclusion

John Coleman is a very good football manager who has delivered success that would have been undreamt of by even the most optimistic Accrington Stanley fan when he took over 10 days short of 20 years ago.

Michael Jolley is doing a below average job and doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as John Coleman.

I don't think it now. For 17 of the first 23 years of my life Town were in the 2nd tier. When we were relegated to League Two in 2004 our previous longest spell in the 4th tier was just 6 years. 15 years and counting at that level or worse is horrendous under achievement. We're all frustrated with Fenty and co and how they run the club, but that doesn't excuse a manager who falls well below the expected level of both performance and results.

Probably an important part of that record is who the Stanley chairmen is/was, I'm sure someone on here could look it up, but if it's the same chap who's there now then it goes a long way to explaining Colemens record.

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